82 



were, in the timber ; so that every knot 

 of that description has a sort of ring round 

 it, nearly black. 



Any person who has Larch Firs grow- 

 ing, of some tolerable age, may convince 

 himself of their durability, by examining 

 their dead branches; which, whether great 

 or small, are never found rotten. 



The foregoing would have been thought 

 sufficient, if I had not found the clurahi^ 

 lity of the sap considerably discredited, 

 in a most respectable publication.* — 

 There we have the particulars of an ex- 

 periment, to ascertain the durability of 



* The Bath Society's Papers, vol. 3, p. 155, and 

 copied into the Annals of Agriculture, vol. 6, p. 256, 

 and the Encyclopedia Britannica, under the article 



** Trees," The celebrity of these works is the best 



apoloii^y for examining the accuracy of the result, 

 •vvhich, if erroneous, is calculated to do considerable 

 mischief. — Undoubtedly there are many hundred mil- 

 lions of the Larch now growing in this island, which are 



